It's on. Twice a week, award-winning journalist Kara Swisher gets to the heart of the story through no-holds-barred interviews with power players across business, tech, media, politics and beyond. So why do her guests show up? “Smart people,” says Kara, “like difficult questions.”
Mondays and Thursdays from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
After reportedly speaking to President Trump on the phone, Elon Musk took to Twitter, on Wednesday, to say he regrets “some” of his tweets about President Trump — but that doesn’t mean all is forgiven. As the dust settles on last week’s cross-platform showdown, the long-term consequences from the breakup of the world’s richest man and its most powerful one are just beginning to emerge. So, Kara gathered a panel of four expert guests to unpack how the feud ignited, who holds the most leverage, wh...
For the past five decades, every Republican president except Gerald Ford has tried to cut funding for public media. But NPR and PBS have never dealt with a moment like this, where the Trump administration is attacking them from every possible angle. A recent executive order demanded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (or CPB) and executive agencies halt all funding for NPR and PBS; the FCC is investigating their corporate underwriting; and this week, the House is expected to take up a resci...
From media moguls to tech billionaires, Oscar-nominated and Emmy award-winning writer, producer and director Jesse Armstrong knows how to tap into the psyche of the rich and powerful. In the “Succession” creator’s new HBO movie, “Mountainhead,” a tech-bro poker weekend turns into a life-or-death battle over who will control the future — in both business and the real world. From their isolated lair in Utah, four millionaire/billionaire friends (played by Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Mich...
Jeffrey Goldberg has been a thorn in President Donald Trump’s side since the real-estate developer–turned reality-show host first ran for office in 2016. Back then — ten months before he took over as editor-in-chief of The Atlantic — Goldberg wrote a piece headlined “A Brief Exercise Meant to Illuminate the Prejudices of Donald Trump.” The magazine has continued its unsparing criticism of Trump ever since, and Goldberg’s recent Signalgate story was just the latest in a series of blockbuster scoo...
As the One Big Beautiful Bill Act lumbers through Congress, President Trump lobs threats at Russian President Vladimir Putin on Truth Social, and the administration continues its war against Harvard, we’re bringing back New York Times reporter and de facto Trump chronicler Maggie Haberman to weigh in on the president’s state of mind. Kara and Maggie talk about the startling scale of disinformation coming out of the White House, Trump’s ambivalent relationship to Supreme Court rulings and democra...
Last year, AI and machine learning startups raked in about half of all VC funding in North America. And so far this year, AI is still leading the pack. But a huge chunk of the money in the Q1 — $40 billion — went to one player: OpenAI. So is there still room for smaller, more focused startups in the AI gold rush? Or will it be a case of “winner takes all?” In this live conversation at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center's inaugural Discovery Series, Kara speaks with Gary Rivlin, author...
Few technological advances have made the kind of splash –– and had the potential long-term impact –– that ChatGPT did in November 2022. It made a nonprofit called OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, household names around the world. Today, ChatGPT is still the world’s most popular AI Chatbot; OpenAI recently closed a $40 billion funding deal, the largest private tech deal on record. But who is Sam Altman? And was it inevitable that OpenAI would become such a huge player in the AI space? Kara speaks ...
Barry Diller’s fingerprints are all over pop culture. From inventing the Movie of the Week and pioneering the television mini-series to launching the FOX broadcast network, redefining home shopping channels, and popularizing dating apps — Diller has had a hand in shaping the American experience for decades. His memoir, Who Knew, takes readers from his difficult childhood through his meteoric rise in Hollywood and finally, his reinvention as a groundbreaking internet entrepreneur. And although mu...
Few people have as much knowledge of the MAGAsphere as Jordan Klepper, co-host and correspondent for The Daily Show. Klepper has been covering President Trump and his supporters since the 2016 presidential campaign, from rallies across the country to the steps of the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. One difference that he — and others — have noted between Trump 1.0 and 2.0 is the growing number of young people, especially young men, who are now in the Republican fold. Kara talks to Klepper a...
Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor, joins Kara to unpack current and potential conflicts — from simmering tension between India and Pakistan to escalating violence in Gaza, attempts to forge a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and rising concerns over Taiwan. They also examine how President Trump’s trade wars are reshaping global diplomacy and the rules of international engagement. Plus, Kara and Christiane discuss Amanpour's new podcast, The Ex Files, which she co-hosts ...
Kara Swisher hosts a discussion with Carol Leonnig, Ashley Parker, and Ben Terris on the first 100 days of Trump's second term, covering executive actions, approval ratings, and potential fallout. They explore Trump's control, the role of Congress, and impacts on democracy, economy, and global alliances. The panel also discusses Elon Musk's influence, the Democratic Party's response, and the potential consequences of Trump's policies and actions.
Governor Wes Moore of Maryland was elected less than three years ago, but he’s already on the shortlist of potential Democratic presidential candidates for 2028. In 2022, the former combat veteran, investment banker and nonprofit CEO became just the third Black person ever elected governor in the United States. But with a large port and one in ten workers on the federal payroll, Maryland is particularly vulnerable to DOGE cuts and President Trump’s trade war. Plus, the state just had to raise ta...
In 2014, when Lisa Su took over as CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, AMD was on the verge of bankruptcy. Su bet hard on hardware and not only pulled the semiconductor company back from the brink, but also led it to surpass its historical rival, Intel, in market cap. Since the launch of ChatGPT made high-powered chips like AMDs “sexy” again, demand for chips has intensified exponentially, but so has the public spotlight on the industry — including from the federal government. In a live conversation,...
Ed Helms is best known for playing Andy Bernard in The Office and Stu in The Hangover trilogy. But the comedic actor is also the politically engaged, banjo-playing, podcast-hosting, TV series–producing author of a new book titled, SNAFU: The Definitive Guide to History’s Greatest Screwups. Kara and Ed discuss domestic politics and satire's role during Trump 2.0; government overreach and history’s tendency to repeat itself; his podcast SNAFU with Ed Helms and the eponymous book; and the entertain...
Philosopher and critical theorist Judith Butler, Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School at UC Berkeley, has been at the forefront of gender theory for 35 years. But while their work Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, which helped establish the idea of gender as a social construct in the 1990s, was lauded by the LGBTQIA+ community for opening the doors to queer theory, they’ve been vilified by those on the right for whom gender theory is a threat to “tradition.” Kara...
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has led to a series of legal skirmishes with major constitutional implications. To unpack it all, Kara speaks to three experts: Caitlin Dickerson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer for The Atlantic who covers immigration. She is currently writing a book on the impact of deportation on American society. Maria Hinojosa is the host and executive producer of the Peabody Award-winning Latino USA and the founder of Futuro Media Group, which just rel...
Melinda French Gates is a businesswoman and philanthropist, as well as an advocate for women and girls both in the U.S. and abroad. And over the past few years, she’s also become a force in Democratic politics. Kara and Melinda talk about her new memoir The Next Day, which takes readers through some of the most important transitions in her life, including her very public divorce with Bill Gates and her decision to leave the Gates Foundation; how she is working to offset the impact of cuts to pro...
President Trump's chaotic rollout and partial rollback of tariffs has roiled financial markets and confused many allies, both domestically and internationally. Although he temporarily calmed bond markets by announcing a 90-day pause on his misleadingly labeled "reciprocal tariffs," the uncertainty he created continues. Meanwhile, China has responded to the 145% tariffs on their imported goods by imposing retaliatory tariffs on American products and halting exports of rare earth minerals. To help...
Emmy-nominated writer, stand-up comic and actor Josh Johnson may be the most prolific comedian on the internet right now. You might recognize him as a regular correspondent on The Daily Show, or maybe you've come across his sharp political critique on TikTok (where he has 2 million followers), or watched one of his longer, philosophical stand-up routines on YouTube (where he has 1.5 million subscribers). Josh is currently touring the country (catch his Flowers Tour in a city near you), but he to...
Last year, after pressure from activist investors, Jeff Lawson stepped down from his perch as CEO from Twilio, the cloud communications company he co-founded. But he didn’t spend any time twiddling his thumbs — that same spring, he bought the satirical news organization The Onion, and by the end of the year, they’d tried to buy Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction. Jeff also stayed busy on the political front, continuing his work on DemocracyFirst, a political action committee he co-foun...
President Donald Trump has always bashed the press. But his attacks are no longer just rhetorical — he’s using lawsuits to intimidate the news media, and he’s inspired a conservative legal movement to overturn the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. The landmark Supreme Court decision protects freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and unfortunately, Trump’s attempt to destroy it are part of a larger pattern of tearing away at our right to freedom of expression. To break it all down, Kara speak...
Comedian Michelle Buteau is a true mutli-hyphenate — actor, standup comic, TV host, podcaster, and executive producer — and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Kara spoke to Buteau about the season 2 launch of “Survival of the Thickest,” a Netflix series loosely based on her 2020 memoir, and how she’s using her life stories to push the boundaries of representation. They also talked about Buteau’s 20-year stand up career, how she became the first woman to record a special in Radio City Music Hall...
Graydon Carter is the co-founder of Spy Magazine and Air Mail, and for 25 years, he was the editor of Vanity Fair. His memoir, When The Going Was Good, chronicles a time when the going was extremely good for glossy magazines and their star editors. During the golden age of magazines, Vanity Fair combined celebrity profiles with deeply reported journalism to great acclaim, and Carter, arguably, became more famous than many of his extremely talented writers. He and Kara discuss everything from off...
President Trump fired Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter, the two Democratic commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission, last week, sending shock waves through political and business circles. The FTC is an independent, bipartisan agency and, as a defender of antitrust and consumer protection laws, one of the most important government watchdogs. FTC commissioners serve seven year terms and, according to a 1935 SCOTUS ruling, can only be fired for cause. But even though, based on that decision...
Everything, everywhere, all at once — but not the movie. This is how cybersecurity experts describe a scenario where a foreign adversary shuts off critical infrastructure, like oil pipelines, water networks, ports, and electric grids, all over the country. The terrifying truth is that China has already hacked into our critical infrastructure. They’re “living off the land” and could conceivably attack whenever is most convenient. What’s worse? Our political leaders are defunding America’s cyberse...
Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson discuss their book "Abundance," arguing that liberal policies have unintentionally created scarcity and affordability crises. They critique the left's obstructionism and advocate for building more housing, infrastructure, and clean energy. The conversation explores how Democrats can regain public trust and counter right-wing narratives by focusing on practical solutions and effective governance.
From spiking her childhood lemonade stand drinks with vodka to launching Netflix's first talk show, Chelsea Handler has always had an entrepreneurial instinct. Case in point: the comedian’s new book, “I’ll Have What She’s Having” is her sixth to top the New York Times best-seller list. Chelsea joined Kara onstage at SXSW to share her juiciest stories from the book (including the joke that made Woody Allen literally spit out his desert), offer her unfiltered takes on President Trump and Elon Musk...
How is Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) pushing back against the Trump/Musk “co-presidents” wreaking havoc in Washington? Speaking to Kara at SXSW, Warren talks about what Musk has to gain by shutting down watchdogs like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other DOGE antics; why a crypto reserve would be bad for Americans and the cryptocurrency industry; and what Democrats are doing to fight back against this hostile government takeover. Plus: will Warren make another run for president agai...
On May 27, 2019, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, best-selling author (and Kara’s friend) Tony Horwitz was on book tour for his latest work, Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide, when he died suddenly. He left behind two sons and his wife, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks, whose books include March and Horse. Dealing with Tony’s death, taking time to grieve his passing and remembering their life together are at the center of Brooks’ latest memoir, Memorial...
For months, Kara has been assembling a group of investors to buy The Washington Post. Although it's not actually for sale, an ongoing exodus of journalistic talent, combined with Bezos's decision to kill an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris days before the 2024 presidential election, made it both plausible that Bezos might entertain a bid and crucial that someone step forward. Now, after watching Bezos remake the opinion section in ways that seem designed to curry favor with President ...
